WEST HAVEN >> Children and adults from the Northeast shed their shin guards and cleats Saturday, opting for bare feet or socks in the 2014 Soccer Resort New England Beach Blitz on the sandy surface of West Haven Beach.

Soccer Resort Founder and President Niall Swan said teams from around the Northeast come once a year to play in the tournament. Teams stay in local hotels and restaurants, boosting the economy, he said. Divisions U-9 through U-18 played in the morning, and adults played in the afternoon.

And the best part, he said, was that the players got to jump in the ocean after their games.

For Carmen Mulyca, coach of the U-12 Guilderland, N.Y.-based Ice, the day was also an opportunity to put the lessons the team learned from the World Cup to good use.

“They’ve been watching it, and it’s good because they see how a team works together,” she said. “We win as a team, we lose as a team.”

Mulyca said she brought her team from upstate New York to compete because it was a good way to build teamwork. She said she grew up playing soccer on the beaches in Florida and wanted her girls to experience the same feeling.

Playing on the sand tires the girls out, because it’s harder to run, so Mulyca said she has been rotating players more. However, the beach games are only 30 minutes long and played on a smaller field, so some parts are easier for the girls, she said.

The Bayside United Strykers hailed from East Providence, R.I., and had already won one of their four guaranteed games, Team Manager Joyce Boucher said. But playing in the sand has also proven to be a unique challenge for the team, as they had to do more juggling and fast passing.

“Normally, when you kick the ball, it rolls,” Boucher said. “On the sand, it drops. You have to be a lot faster.”

Regardless, Boucher said, the tournament was something fun for the team that she thought would improve team-building.

Goalie Tyler Ferreira, 14, of Berkley, Mass., said he too watches the World Cup and thinks it will increase the popularity of soccer in the U.S.

“It’s a worldwide thing,” said Ferreira, of the Bayside United Strykers team. “A lot of people support it throughout the world.”

Scott Brown, of West Hartford, said he was also optimistic about the rise in popularity after the World Cup. Brown’s 14-year-old son plays on the Soccer Plus Elite Rebels team of central Connecticut.

“The fact that the United States has a chance to advance this year will do more to advance the visibility and popularity,” he said.